Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard – An American Salute/ Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet, lined up sixth for the final restart at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway but was tagged from behind during a 15-car pileup as the field came to the checkered flag. Earnhardt held on to cross the finish line 15th, keeping his streak of completing all laps this season alive.

Earnhardt remains second in the driver standings and trails leader Matt Kenseth by 25 points after the 18th race of the 2012 season.

Earnhardt lined up 25th for the start of Saturday night’s 160-lap event and cracked the top 10 by Lap 45, where he would remain for a majority of the race.

A multi-car accident occurred with six laps remaining in the race, and Earnhardt lined up sixth for the two-lap showdown. He was poised to have a solid finish when the melee broke out behind him in Turn 4 as the field approached the checkered flag. Earnhardt appeared to be in the clear but was tagged from behind by a wrecked vehicle. Earnhardt steered his No. 88 Chevy to a 15th-place finish.

QUOTING DALE EARNHARDT JR.:

EARNHARDT (ON THE LATE-RACE ACCIDENT AT DAYTONA.): "We were going into (Turn) 3, and it looked like everybody was coming apart. We came up on them real fast and (Kevin) Harvick went to the inside of the No. 16 and the No. 16 either came down or got shoved down into the nose of Harvick's car. I was getting shoved at the same time I was lifting off of Harvick and getting shoved into him and just turning left and got clipped by the No. 16 going by. It was pretty wild. We were all running into each other (LAUGHS). It was crazy at the end."

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